Alinghi
 Model of the Alinghi
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Alinghi is the name of a Swiss yacht that became the first European ship to win the prestigious America's Cup in 2003. In 2007 the trophy was successfully defended. Alinghi is a self-created name by its founder and owner Ernesto Bertarelli and sister when they were children. All the boats that Bertarelli has owned since then bore this name. He is a Swiss biotech entrepreneur from Geneva with Italian roots.
Before the America's Cup, Ernesto Bertarelli took part in regattas with smaller yachts .
Alinghi has its home base in Switzerland and sails under the flag of the Société Nautique de Genève . The main sponsors are UBS and BT Infonet . Co-sponsors are Audemars Piguet , SGS , Nespresso , MSC Cruises and North Sails .
Participation in 2003
The yacht and the team
The 2003 yacht was designed in collaboration with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). This collaboration was also extended to the 2007 America's Cup. According to their own statements, the Alinghi team also won thanks to the extremely light spinnaker fabric, which was developed and manufactured in Neu St. Johann by the Meyer-Mayor company. The specific weight of the spinnaker is 27 g / m², which corresponds to about a third of the weight of toilet paper.
Bertarelli managed to get the most successful skipper of the time on board: Russell Coutts , who had won the America's Cup for New Zealand in 1995 and 2000 . This poaching caused resentment in New Zealand. Along with Russell Coutts, other important New Zealanders joined the Alinghi team, such as B. the tactician Brad Butterworth . Bertarelli himself was a navigator in all races . Sports director was the German Olympic champion Jochen Schümann .
Reactions to victory
In Switzerland, the Alinghi victory led to widespread public interest in sailing , which until then had been a pansy, alongside other sports. Team Alinghi was awarded the Team of the Year award in 2003.
Participation in 2007
venue
As the defending champion, the Alinghi team was able to determine the venue. Usually the race takes place in the country of the winner. Since Switzerland is a landlocked country , an Alinghi committee had to decide on a suitable location. The choice fell on Valencia . The whole team had been stationed there since the summer of 2004 and began preparations for defending the title.
team
The team's principal designer was the Dutchman Rolf Vrolijk , who was born in Haarlem in 1946 .
The Alinghi team forcibly sacked their New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts on July 27, 2004 after the America's Cup regulations had been changed shortly before to prevent Coutts from competing. Nine months later, the dispute with Coutts was settled with a brief statement.
For this, the team was later increased again: On November 30, 2004, Ed Baird was announced as another helmsman alongside Peter Holmberg . The German Jochen Schümann remained sports director.
victory
The Alinghi team successfully defended its title in 2007 and became the winner of the 32nd America's Cup. The victory to 5: 2 for Alinghi in the last finish could only be determined by the jury.
In the seventh race of the best-of-nine series, the Alinghi was 1000 meters from the finish line with almost 100 meters in the lead before the breeze dropped from 15 knots (28 km / h ) to 4 knots (7 km / h ) and the New Zealanders were able to overtake and overtake the Swiss due to better wind conditions. However, the New Zealand team still had to execute the penalty that they had earned on the penultimate cross . The Alinghi won the run with a minimal lead of one second and was the first team to score 5 points.
Participation in 2010
venue
After several legal disputes with the challenger BMW Oracle Racing , the 33rd America's Cup was held in Valencia again.
The boat
With the Alinghi 5 , a 30 m long catamaran was launched.
Result
After the second lap, overall victory went to the challenger BMW Oracle Racing.
Awards
In 2003 and 2007, the Alinghi team was awarded the Swiss Athlete of the Year award in the “Team of the Year” category. On December 1, 2004, the team was also awarded the “Olympic Trophy”.
Web links
- Alinghi: The team's homepage. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010 ; Retrieved August 9, 2012 .
- The homepage of the Americas Cup (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ Coutts fired. In: yacht.de. April 27, 2007, accessed July 13, 2019 .
- ↑ If this guy doesn't want to do his job, we have a problem. In: yacht.de. April 27, 2007, accessed July 13, 2019 .
- ↑ The dispute between Bertarelli and Coutts settled. In: look. March 24, 2005, accessed July 13, 2019 .